Power driven hand held sanders are widely employed in a variety of different fields and are generally separated into rotary sanders and vibrating sanders, that may in turn be subdivided into straight line movements and oscillating movements. In the field of automative body work, for example, rotary sanders are often employed to remove paint and sometimes to smooth metal. It is, however, felt by many in the field that rotary sanders tend to produce scalloped surfaces so that vibrating sanders are preferable.
Considering hand held or portable vibrating sanders, it is noted that they are conventionally powered by electricity or compressed air and may be obtained commercially in a variety of sizes. One conventional large straight line sander has a length of about eighteen inches and a width of three inches with a stroke of about one inch. Again referring to auto body repair, it is noted that a large sander is commonly employed to minimize the time required for sanding operation and yet for small dents or chips a large sander sands surfaces that were undamaged so that extensive subsequent refinishing is required. While it is possible for a workman to switch between large and small sanders, it is unhandy and time consuming to do so. It would thus be advantageous to provide a vibrating sander having the capabilities of both a large and small sander while yet producing the smooth surface characteristic of vibrating sanders.
The present invention provides an attachment for vibrating sanders for converting a large sander to a small sander almost instantaneously.